Interpersonal Communication: Are You Credible or Incredible?
Have you ever had someone call you incredible and you just don’t understand why? It might not be them; it may be a problem with your personal credibility.
Dr. David W. Johnson has a great book called Reaching Out about understanding one’s own credibility. In this book, Johnson lists out the six criteria of personal creditability:
- Consistently appear warm and friendly – Maintain a positive attitude in the workplace
- Express your intentions and motives clearly
- Be Trustworthy – Follow through with your intended motives
- Be an Information Source – You know knowable information that you are required to know for the job that you have
- Possess Relevant Expertise – You know more about what it is that you do better than anyone else. This way, if people have a question about that, they seek you out for the answers, rather than wasting their time asking anyone else.
- Project Dynamism – Show natural enthusiasm so that it actually appears that you are in fact enjoying your job.
With this list, you can focus on your areas of weakness so that you can make yourself credible, rather than incredible. And so, if you model these six criteria of credibility, your ideas will be more easily accepted and your opinions more valued.
To hear more on Interpersonal Communication watch Kit Welchlin’s presentation on Improving Our Relationships. And remember to stop back here every Monday for another video blog.